A $9 million hotel, a $1.5 million office and retail building and a $490,000 pharmacy will soon rise from south Tulsa's Crossroads Village development.
Sitting at the corner of U.S. Highway 169, S. 91st Street and the Creek Turnpike, the area around this 8.7-acre project by Virginia developer Wheeler Interests boasts a high traffic count and one of the state's best per-capita incomes, all amid a growing health care corridor. SouthCrest Hospital sits across the street, with the St. Francis Hospital South atop the hill just across 169.
"It is the crossroads of south Tulsa, Bixby and Broken Arrow," said Doug Bauer, the Bauer & Associates broker for Crossroads Village. "For me as a broker, it's just a great place to have a sign and be doing deals. Those are the kind of prospects we want to work with. "
Tulsa-area hotel developer Robert Patel intends to build a four-story, 100-room Fairfield Inn and Suites by Marriott at Crossroads Village. Once he closes on the lot, Patel hopes to start the 12-month construction process by March. He has not gained a contractor yet for the project, which Bauer said would feature an expanded lobby and meeting space area.
Analysts said this could represent the only hotel along those highways for several miles.
"That's due to its super location," said Wheeler Acquisition Partner Randy Wheeler, who with Wheeler President Jon Wheeler acquired the land in March for $2.1 million. "They moved on it immediately. We had them under contract before I closed. "
Watson Land Co. LLC of Muskogee has paid $750,000 to DF-I Crossroads Village LLC for Crossroads Village's 29,980-square-foot southwest corner lot. At $25.02 a square foot, Randy Wheeler said that price set a record for Tulsa retail property.
"That will raise some eyebrows," said Bauer, who didn't know if it was a record. "I think if it's not, it's certainly near the top. "
Although he also has not signed a contractor yet, Watson Land owner John Watson hopes to complete a 4,900-square-foot structure on the site by this summer, where he will employ up to 20 people operating his fourth Economy Pharmacy store (the first in Tulsa, following three in Muskogee) and his fifth Alternacare medical equipment office.
"I believe for my particular business that will be in an excellent location," said Watson, who has sought to put a pharmacy in that area for three years. "I don't believe at the present time there is a pharmacy within miles of there. "
Wheeler Interests intends to start construction within 90 days on a 14,314-square-foot retail and office building at Crossroads Village. Bauer said leases are pending with a restaurant and medical professionals.
"We don't start construction until we're 50 percent pre-leased," said Wheeler, whose Virginia Beach, Va., acquisition, development, leasing and management company specializes in shopping centers of 50,000 to 300,000 square feet.
Former Tulsa residents, the Wheelers also own the Perimeter Shopping Center in Tulsa and developed a small center in Jenks.
These Crossroads Village deals will leave the project with three available lots. Wheeler hopes to have it all under development before the end of 2008.
"We are talking to a bank and another restaurant and some larger institutional investors," said Bauer.
